312MKT International Marketing module - Assignment 2.

1. Business Report
on expanding into Oman (Gulf Area)
By: Yordan Dimitrov
SID: 5446890
(Bill’s Restaurants 2018a)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................................................... 3
1| ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS OF OMAN’S RESTAURANT MARKET ......................................................................... 4
MACRO ENVIRONMENT ...........................................................................................................................................................4
MICRO ENVIRONMENT.............................................................................................................................................................5
2| COMMUNICATION STRATEGY............................................................................................................................. 7
S.M.A.R.T. & COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVES .............................................................................................................................7
3| MARKETING MIX................................................................................................................................................ 9
PRODUCT..............................................................................................................................................................................9
PRICE ...................................................................................................................................................................................9
PROMOTION..........................................................................................................................................................................9
PLACE.................................................................................................................................................................................10
4| CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION ................................................................................................................ 11
REFERENCE LIST.................................................................................................................................................... 12
FURTHER READING ...............................................................................................................................................................16
APPENDICES......................................................................................................................................................... 17
APPENDIX 1| STEPS FOR IMPROVING PRICING CAPABILITIES ..........................................................................................................17

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Introduction
The report will primary analyse the macro and micro environments of the Omani restaurant market
through the use of PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces (1979) analyses. Following which, the business
report will look into appropriate communication strategic frameworks and identify the most suitable
approach. Furthermore, an exploration of Bill’s Marketing Mix (McCarthy 1960) would be identified,
as a result of which conclusion would be drawn. The purpose of this project is to critically evaluate
the Omani market in attempt to provide an effective plan for Bill’s potential expansion.

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1| Environmental analysis of Oman’s restaurant market
This section would provide a critical analysis of the Omani restaurant market. PESTEL analysis (Law
2009) would be used to analyse the macro environment whilst Porter’s Five Forces Model (1979)
would be used in examining the micro environments. PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces Model are
equally important in determining the environmental factors as they provide a theoretical framework
suitable for academic critical analysis. The findings of this section would influence choices of both
communication strategy and adoption of appropriate marketing mix.
Bill’s Restaurant was launched in 2000 by Bill Collison as a British café chain (Bill’s Restaurants 2018a),
the organisation gradually expanded and at presence has nearly eighty restaurants in Britain. In Bill’s
own words, the organisation “became a bit of a sensation” (Bill’s Restaurants 2018b) through offering
premium quality dining experience for middle-income consumers seeking organically sourced food
with great flavours (Bill’s Restaurants 2018c). According to report from Mintel (2017:3) “Bill’s
Restaurants saw turnover increase by 20.6% to £110.5m for the year ending 31 July 2016” which
indicates strong growth and opportunities for further expansion. Bill’s also have an e-commerce
platform – Bill’s Shop, where they sell their own label products (Bill's Shop 2018), however for the
purpose of this research, the focus would be on their restaurants.
In order to analyse Bill’s potential entry into the Omani restaurant market, the macro environment
has been assessed:
Macro environment
Political
Oman’s government has developed a long-
term strategy plan that aims to reduce their
reliance on petroleum through constructing
their basic infrastructure (Times of Oman
2015). The scheme aims to encourage Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) and provide
opportunity for a competitive business
environment. The strategy would help Bill’s
Restaurants in their potential expansion
through ensuring their investment as a foreign
based organisation is welcomed.
Economic
As a high-income (The World Bank 2017), developing economy (United Nations 2017), the country
offers a “sound economy and good international relations” (Jafar Naqvi and Al-Shihi 2009:821) which
would be beneficial for Bill’s potential investment. In terms of disposable income spent on
restaurants, the Omani consumers spend roughly 20% of their income per year on dining out
(Euromonitor International 2017).
Figure 1. PESTEL Analysis

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Social
Socially, the locals have an ethnocentric attitude towards foreign goods (Oman Observer 2016),
however high-income consumers and tourists enjoy foreign cuisines from Turkey, India, Middle East,
France and Lebanon (Lonely Planet 2018). As British dinner, Bill’s could add to the palette of cuisines
and satisfy the taste buds of locals seeking western food experience.
Technological
When it comes to technology, the Omani market could not offer an opportunity for online food order
delivery service, that is currently being used within the UK (Bill’s Restaurants 2018a). This is because
Oman consumers have low IT literacy, basic internet infrastructure and limited access to affordable
technology (World Economic Forum 2016).
Environmental
The latest published status report by the United Nations (2003), touched upon Oman’s five-year
sustainability goals. According to the Ishrat J. (2015), the country takes pride on their sustainability
efforts. For the purpose of Bill’s expansion, the restaurant will not present significant impact as most
ingredients would be grown locally in attempt to ensure the organic nature of their food.
Legal
The most resent country report on Oman suggests “The legal system is largely fair, but legal
procedures are lengthy. Oman's Basic Law considers the agreements and treaties between Oman and
other countries or international institutions to be the highest form of written law” (IHS Markit
2017:13) reinstating the importance of FDI to local authorities thereby welcoming the potential Bill’s
expansion.
In order to gain wider understanding of the Omani market, we must also consider the micro
environmental factors.
Micro environment
Threat of new entrant
There is limited interest from British
restaurant chains into entering the Omani
market (Han et al. 2015). Over the past four
years, no British restaurants have set up on
the market, thereby the threat of new
entrant into the market for Bill’s would be
limited.
Competitive rivalry
Competitive rivalry would within the market
would derive from local European fine dining
competitor restaurants such as ‘Come
Prima’, ‘Sultanah’, ‘Capri Court’ and ‘John
Barry’ (RoundMenu Dining 2018). There is limited threat of another western restaurant chain
competitor within the fine dining restaurant market in Muscat.
Figure 2. Porter’s Five Fources (1979)

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Threat of substitutes
Close substitutes to Bill’s Restaurants within the local market would be other western diners, for
example the ‘John Barry’ venue based in Muscat (RoundMenu Dining 2018) as it features similar
choice of dishes in their menu such as scrambled eggs. However, Bill’s Restaurants choose quality
organically sourced ingredients.
Bargaining power of consumers
Is fairly strong as within the restaurant hospitality industry consumers are price sensitive across the
market. Despite attempting to enter as a premium diner, Bill’s must ensures the prices would be
within the acceptable margins of Omani fine dining.
Bargaining power of suppliers
Suppliers have a reasonable bargaining power. Through the previously discussed macro
environmental factors in relation to politics, local government is keen to stimulate growth through
FDI thereby subsidies would be introduced to suppliers allowing for development of economies of
scale and growth.
The two analyses identified both the weaknesses and the potential of the Oman market in relation
to the Bill’s Restaurant chain. In attempt to overcome the weaknesses, appropriate communication
strategy must be developed in order to adapt the organisation to the new market of entry and
increase the chances of a successful venture.

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2| Communication strategy
Market communication is considered the promotional aspect (Duncan and Moriarty 1998) of the
marketing mix (McCarthy 1960). The concept also features in the 12C framework analysis described
in Doole et al. (2017). Doole et al. (2017) also suggest communication strategy looks at primarily
identifying communication objectives and secondary, coordinating the various communication
activates.
There are many ways of identifying communication strategy.
S.M.A.R.T. & Communication objectives
One common approach to defining objectives is through S.M.A.R.T. (Doran 1981) which stands for
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Time Limited. A more-detailed approach on defining
communication strategy has been featured in Doole et al. (2017). The method provides additional
level of analysis in relation to communication strategies and thereby enhances Doran (1981)’s
S.M.A.R.T. making the objectives more suitable current business report.
The key objectives for Bill’s Expansion into Muscat, Oman would be the following:
1. Gaining 10% market share at the expense of domestic competitors: ‘Come Prima’, ‘Sultanah’,
‘Capri Court’ and ‘John Barry’ (RoundMenu Dining 2018) within the first year of expansion.
2. Increasing value of Bill’s Restaurants brand through internationalising the restaurant into Oman
and raising consumer awareness of the Bill’s brand internationally within the next four years.
3. Establishing position of the Bill’s Restaurants brand within Oman by becoming one of the top
five international restaurants in the Omani capital within the first year.
In order to meet the objectives, Billl’s should choose a focus on a particular type of strategy when
entering the Omani market. In essence, there are two types of communication strategies: push and
pull strategies (Doole et al. 2017).
Table 3. Push and pull communication strategies [adapted from Doole et al. (2017:309)]

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Figure 3 represents, pull communication strategy which focuses on mass advertising promotion and
is suitable to big markets such as the United Kingdom as there is a variety of consumer base and is
currently applied by Bill’s (Hex 2018). However, within the context of Oman, Bill’s would be inclined
into adapting a push strategy that focuses on established communication channels such as
newspapers, billboards and the existing company website - https://bills-website.co.uk/ (Bill's
Restaurants 2018a). The six biggest news outlets have a daily circulation of over 85 000 newspapers
and are read by middle and high-income readers (Oman Press Reference 2018) thereby suitable for
Bill’s communication strategy. Based on the findings from the environmental analysis, Oman’s
technology and economy are still underdeveloped, thereby promotion should be adapted to the
region. Communication be mainly implemented through physical means of media such as
newspapers and billboards in an attempt to raise awareness. Historically, ‘Come Prima’, ‘Sultanah’,
‘Capri Court’ and ‘John Barry’ (RoundMenu Dining 2018) restaurants have used similar approach.
Effectiveness of the approach indicates high Return On Investment (ROI) and generated sales. Cost
of promotion cannot be predicted as it would depend on the Bill’s level of involvement, however
estimates suggest advertising space is considerably cheaper than in the UK (Jafar Naqvi and Al-Shihi
2009).
In accordance with Doole et al. (2017), Bill’s communication activities would be:
1. Establishing Bill’s brand message of cooking with organically grown ingredients and providing a
fine breakfast, lunch and dinner experience
2. Targeting the high-income earners consumers in the capital Muscat
3. Using physical (newspapers and billboards) and digital (company website) communication tools
to promote the franchise
4. In terms of measuring the impact of communication strategy, return on investment would be
done through tracking direct leads in the form of restaurant booking requests on monthly basis.
In summary, Bill’s communication strategy would be inclined with use of both digital and physical
means of communication to raise awareness of the Bill’s brand into Oman. Through clearly defining
sales and brand objectives with the use of pull communication, Bill’s would be able to utilise its
strategy and maximise the chances of successful potential expansion into the Oman market and
Muscat in particular. Section three would further analyse the 4Ps of their potential Marketing Mix
(McCarthy 1960).

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3| Marketing Mix
Following the selection of a suitable communication strategy, suitable marketing mix (McCarthy
1960) should be identified.
Product
The existing Bill’s menu has to be adapted to
the religious constrains of the consumer. As
an Islamic country (Euromonitor International
2017), local consumers cannot consume pork
or alcohol on the menu (ICV 2018). The
existing menus for Bill’s Restaurants in Britain
feature both forbidden goods thereby the
Oman menus must be adapted to Halal.
Furthermore, translation into Arabic would be
mandatory as English is not an official
language. In relation to legal environment, the
menu must comply with local health and safety regulations (Oman Law Blog 2012).
According to Maurya and Mishra (2012:127) “brand is the expression of relationship between
consumer and product”, thereby, establishing a brand in a foreign market should not compromise on
the original brand ethos.
Price
In relation to Hinterhuber and Liozu (2012), Bill’s price setting would be inclined with either cost or
competition-based pricing as the Oman market is very price sensitive (Oxford Business Group 2017)
thereby it is vital to adapt competitive prices which are equally cost effective for Bill’s Restaurants.
In regard to price getting, Hinterhuber and Liozu (2012) contextualise pricing within five primary
zones:
Bill’s would fall into price capture zone maturity level as primarily, the targeted consumer
expectations in relation to price should be met, or in other words, the price could not be
differentiating significantly from similar fine dining restaurants. Whilst the dining experience would
be targeting high income consumers, prices must reflect the local salary expectations – annual GDP
per capita of 14,982.36USD (The World Bank 2016a). Estimated price reduction of 62.4% [value based
on UK GDP per capita (The World Bank 2016b) difference to Oman GDP per capita figures] would be
done to allow Bill’s to be competitive. Production costs would be reduced through use of local
ingredients where possible and in long term, economies of scale.
Promotion
As discussed in section two, as part of the market communication strategy, promotion would be done
through both digital and physical media. The messages will be translated into Arabic and adapted
towards the values of the Omani high-income consumers thereby targeting the focused group for
Bill’s Restaurants within Oman.
Figure 4. Marketing Mix (McCarthy 1960)

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Place
As a Medium Organisation with 1001 to 5000 employees (Companies House GovUK 2018), Bill’s is
likely to have limited ability to invest heavily in Oman. Thereby, they could potentially explore direct
market entry expansion strategy in the form of opening individual restaurants as opposed to multiple
simultaneous dinner openings. The particular approach has been previously used by close
competitor, Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group when internationalising into France. The strategy had a
proven successful and was met with positive criticism from local restaurant critiques, such as Alias
(2018). Applying this to the Omani market would involve setting up Bill’s restaurants in bigger cities
like Muscat where international food is already present (Lonely Planet 2018) and high-income
earners are concentrated in (Euromonitor International 2017).
The marketing mix (see Appendix 1) has provided an overview of the potential expansion into the
Omani market for Bill’s. The section further applied the information collated within the
environmental analysis and communication strategy in order to propose a suitable marketing mix
that focuses on primarily establishing the Bill’s brand only in Muscat. As a capital city, Muscat would
offer Bill’s a more diverse and culturally aware consumer base and consumers with above average
income that would be able to dine in their restaurants. All elements of the marketing mix would have
to be adapted to the target market, meaning there would be no opportunity to apply a
standardisation approach.

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4| Conclusion & Recommendation
In conclusion, in order to have a successful expansion into Oman, Bill’s Restaurants must ensure they
understand the foreign market. The business report analysed the Omani market in terms of its micro
and macro environment, discussed potential communication strategies and proposed a suitable
marketing mix that further reinstates the importance of adoption and respect towards the new
market of entry. My recommendations are to conduct a consumer survey within Muscat in order to
understand the needs of the community and meet them.

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Reference List
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Han, S., Nguyen, B. and Lee, T. (2015) "Consumer-Based Chain Restaurant Brand Equity, Brand
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Times of Oman (2015) Diversification Is Long-Term Strategic Plan Of Oman's Ninth Five Year Plan
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Further Reading
BBC News (2018) Oman Profile [online] available from <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-
east-14654150> [14 March 2018]
Glassdoor (2018) Bill's Restaurants Company Report [online] available from
<https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Overview/Working-at-Bill-s-Restaurants-EI_IE857738.11,29.htm>
[20 March 2018]
Gummesson, E. (2001) Total Relationship Marketing. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann
Guo, X. (2013) "Living In A Global World: Influence Of Consumer Global Orientation On Attitudes
Toward Global Brands From Developed Versus Emerging Countries". Journal Of International
Marketing 21 (1), 1-22
Ishrat J, S. (2015) PESTEL Analysis To Assess Marketing Environment [online] available from
<http://2015.omanobserver.om/pestel-analysis-to-assess-marketing-environment/> [19 March
2018]
Jobber, D. (2013) Principles And Practice Of Marketing. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill
Jones, J. and Ridout, N. (2015) A History Of Modern Oman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
World Trade Organisation (2017) Annual Report. World Trade Organisation
World Trade Press (2010) Oman Women In Culture, Business & Travel. Petaluma

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Appendices
Appendix 1| Steps for improving pricing capabilities
Adapted from Hinterhuber and Liozu (2012:76)